The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1887-07-06
Death of Judge Poland.

at a late hour Saturday afternoon,
caused painful shock to the commu-
nifty. He was in Montpelier last week
and went by way of st. Johnsbury to
his home in Waterville. He then APP
peared in his usual good health, though
since his serious attack of illness last
winter he had suffered some decline of
physical vigor. His death occurred on
his farm in Waterville at two O'Clock
r. NJ. on Saturday. Only short time
previous he told friend that he was
feeling better every day, and few
minutes before his death he had gone
to the store and purchased a wide
brimmed straw hat preparatory to work
in the field. He went into the hay
NOW and shortly sank down with low
moan and was dead in few moments.
In his death Vermont loses one of her
most distinguished citizens. He was
an ornament to the bar and in the halls
of legislation, man of varied gifts and
large capacities, loyal to country and
party, and his work as a lawyer and
statesman had given him a national
reputation. The facts contained in the
following sketch of his career are taken
principally from Mr.. F. w. Baldwin's
Biography of the Orleans County
Bar"
Luke Potter Poland was born in
Westford, VT, November l, 1915.
His ancestry was of the best Anglo
American stock. His father, Luther
Poland, was the first representative in
the legislature from the town of Water
vile after it was organized as town,
in 1926. He died at the residence of
his son, Hon. Joseph Poland, in Mont
pelier, in 1880, at the advanced age of
ninety-one years. Luke p, was the
Oldest son. His early advantages were
very limited. He attended the district
school until he was twelve years old,
and then was clerk in store in Water
vile two years. The next three years
he spent at home assisting his father
at his trade of carpenter, on the farm
and in running saw-mill. The last
named fact explains the saying of the
judge that he "was brought up and
educated in a saw-mill." AT the age
of seventeen he attended for five
months Jericho Academy, and taught
School successfully in Morrisville two
winters. AT the close of his first
school he began the study of law in
the office of Judge Samuel A. Willard.
The habits of industry and persever-
ance he had already acquired contin-
ued in pursuing his legal studies. He
was admitted to the Lamoille county
bar in 1886, when he was only twenty
years of age, and was partner of Judge
Willard three years. He soon gained a
large practice in Lamoille, Orleans and
Washington counties. With family,
and no property except what he earned,
he became an intense worker, and his
success was remarkable. He was regis
ter of probate of Lamoille county in
1S39-'40, member of the state consti-
tutional convention in 1910 and prose-
cutting attorney in 1S44-'45. In 1S4S
he was the free-soil candidate for lieu
tenant-governor. His law practice be-
came extensive and was continued for
twelve years, when, in the fall of 1S4S,
he was elected one of the judges of the
supreme court. Although at the time
a free-soil democrat, he was elected
over whig competitor by whig legis-
lature, and received seventeen success
sive elections by rive voce vote. The
mental qualities and traits of character,
the exercise and development of which
had raised him so rapidly to his high
standing as lawyer, marked and dis
tinguished him as judge. In 1860 he
was elected chief-justice, which Office
he held until he resigned his seat upon
the bench in 1865 to accept the appoint
ment of United States senator in place
of Judge Collamer, deceased. Hon.
James Barrett, for many years one OF
Judge Poland's associates at the bar
and afterward on the bench, has writ
ten the following: In thirty years
conversancy with the bench and bar OF
Vermont it has not been my fortune
to know any other instance in which
the presiding judge in his niSi prius cir
cult has been so uniformly, and by the
spontaneous acquiescence of the bar sc
emphatically, the end of law in all
things appertaining to the business OF
these courts. AS judge in the SUI
preme court, sitting in banc, his adapt
edness to the place was equally mani
fest. His mastery of the principles Of
law, his discriminating apprehension
of the principles involved in the spe
cific case, his facility in developing by
logical processes and practical illustra
tons the proper applications and re
suits of those principles, are very strik
ingly evinced in the judicial opinions
drawn up by him contained in the Yer
mont Reports. His memory of case
in which particular points have beer